(We Are) Light Catchers
2015-2016(We Are) Light Catchers collects personal light experiences into a collaborative public light sculpture. Participants wear a light sensor that records the colours of the ambient light around them Over a period of 24 hours the sensor builds up a “personal light story” specific to that person’s environment and daily habits Each light recording is shown as animated changes of colour over time in a public light sculpture Each element of the sculpture is illuminated with one person’s light history As more people “bring the light” to the sculpture it becomes a place for people to meet and compare our shared experiences of light.
Light Catchers raises awareness of our individual light environments and gives the chance to “bring your light” to a collaborative public installation. The Light Catchers cities include Jena and Dortmund in Germany, and Ramallah in the Palestinian Territories. The project was initially developed for the Connecting Cities initiative of Public Art Lab during the UNESCO International Year of Light
Light Catchers in Ramallah Photo by Ameen Saeb
Light Catchers in Ramallah Photo by Ameen Saeb
Exhibitions
2016
Aug 15-23 - Ramallah Summer Festival, Ramallah, West Bank (blog post)
2015
October 8-11 - CITY VISIONS JENA Licht- und Wissenschaftsfestival, Jena, Germany (video)
September 19 - 15 Dortmunder DEW21-Museumsnacht, Dortmund, Germany, Programme (pdf)
Press
Das City Visions Festival in Jena, Thüringische Landeszeitung and Ostthüringer Zeitung, by Tino Zippel, October 10, 2015, (image)
City-Visions-Festival in Jena: Lichtsammler und Garküchen auf Ernst-Abbe-Platz, Thüringische Landeszeitung, by Jördis Bachmann, August 4, 2015 (pdf)
Credits
The Light Catchers project was developed during the Public Art Lab Prototyping Lab 2015 as part of transmediale and is supported by the RWE Foundation
True Color sensors provided by MAZeT Lighting controllers supported by LED-Studien Printing filament provided by 3dkberlin
Project Concept / Lead: Michael Ang
Team / Supporters: Sebastian Graf (Labjunkys), Stefanie Loveday, Lucy Patterson, Mike LaVigne, Jamie Morrow, Rachel Uwa, Claudia and Hilary Cowan from School of Machines, Lisa Kirchner, Ma Li, Albert Bitton Prototyping Lab: Iago Romero (wearable prototype), Alberto Gómez, Melanie Nobis (project name), Sebastian Meier (Hybrid City group moderator)
Jury Board: Susa Pop (Connecting Cities), Julia Kloiber (Open Knowledge Foundation) Charlotte Knips (Fraunhofer Umsicht) Robert Kleinfeld (Fraunhofer FOKUS)
Media / Images
Light Catchers Images (zip)
In/Visible Cities Prototyping Lab publication by Sandra Moskova (pdf)
In/Visible Cities Prototyping Lab video by Xar Lee (link)